thanks so much for watching today and all week. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. the man and his mandate. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with this. the re-elected president did it today, he said what he's going to do, how he's going to lead. he's going do it like a world leader entering into negotiations with preconditions. those preconditions are now clear. a take back of the bush tax cuts from the very top. this is it. what we were waiting for, a tough, sharp statement of what this re-election means. it means that people will know we have a president who is ready to stand his ground for jobs, for growth, but not the bush/romney way, no more trickle down now that the people of this

country have sent their message from the gound up. armed for combat, barack obama takes the felt against the very forces who fought to cut him down. he will be a democratic president. he will be fair on tacks. he will use those taxes to rebuild this country and educate it up to the tough competition we face in the 21st century. he's backed by a majority of the american people, indeed re-elects as the only democrat with the civil war with two majority elections behind him with an undergraded mandate at his back. today he marched on to the field of combat against an uncertain foe. some ready to deal, others hiding in their bunkers waiting for something, anything, to save them from the terrifying sight of 25 2 1st century electoral reality. i'm joined by dee dee myers, former clinton white house press secretary and david corn, the author of the ebook, 47 percent. today the president stressed he's willing to compromise to avoid the consequence of going

over that so-called fiscal cliff at the end of the year. however, he said he's stigeing to his guns, that the wealthiest need to be asked to pay a bit more. let's watch. >> i want to be clear, i'm not wedded to every detail of my plan. i'm open to compromise. i'm hope to new ideas. i'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges, but i refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. i am not going to ask students and seniors and middle class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me making over $250,000 aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes. this was a central question during the election. it was debated over and over again and on tuesday night we found out that the majority of americans agree with my approach. >> couldn't be more direct than that. i like the clarity today. he said i'll negotiate but not on this. david corn? >> two years ago when he cut that deal with the congressional

republicans to extend the bush tax cuts in the return for basically a second stimulus, i thought it was a good deal at the time, he said exactly this. last time i'm going to do this. you took hostages, i'm paying ransom now because i'm getting more return actually, but down the road it's not going to be -- >> he also said this is what the election was about. >> and it was if you look at the exit polls, you look at the numbers. mandate is a big word you used at the top of the show, but he won, and at some point he has shown he's been willing to compromise on democratic policies much more than the republicans. he will give on entitlements but he has to get something in return. >> di di, tell me what you heard today. he said he said that election meant something, it meant fairness. >> that was probably single most repeated phrases of the election campaign talking about the middle class. they truly believe they won because the message was protecting the middle clats and they beat romney. >> and he called for lower tax

rates which didn't win the day. >> but i think the other part of that that was really important was he said i'm not wedded to any detail, i'm open to new ideas and compromise. that's really important because both sides are going to have to give up things they really care about. >> i heard a totally different speech from the president as we all did from what romney would have said if he won. and he could have won. a couple weeks ago it looked like he was heading that direction. he said he wanted the tax run from the rich because he wanted to do things, not just to screw them, but to do stuff. he actually came out today and said i want to build stuff in this country, rebuild the highways. look at new york, the places that need rebuilding. look at the education needs. we have to catch up to the chinese in education, catch up to the rest of the world. >> i think the election we just had was one of the most ideological elections in modern times. >> explain it in simple terms. >> the president put forward a investigation i look at government as a way to come together communally through taxes to invest in infrastructure and innovation

and education to move the country forward. the romney/ryan view, which is very simply stated, people believe this is that government is the enemy. you got to get government out of the way and let the markets work and that's how you move ahead. it was very clear cut, and one guy won and one lost. >> we're in this together. i'm beginning to like his speech. i was really tired there. i'm beginning to like it because i'm beginning to hear in it a lot of thought, a lot of thought. >> there's no question that he has -- i think david is right, this was a very ideological election, but the problem -- the challenge is still that half the country didn't vote for him, right? half -- and they sent a republican congress -- or republican house back to congress, and so that's just the reality. now, everybody agrees we have to do something about the fiscal cliff. the question becomes now that you agree you have to do something, who gets saved. the president made clear investments in creating jobs and infrastructure and education and technology are not negotiable. >> the house all revenue

measures have to originate in the house. john boehner talked about the looming fiscal cliff and like the president he also hinted at room for compromise. you have to listen carefully to see the compromise that could be coming. >> it's clear that there are a lot of special interest loopholes in the tax code, both corporate and personal. it's also clear that there are all kinds of deductions, some of which make cents. others don't. everything, everything on the revenue side and on the spending side has to be looked at. >> senator chuck schumer in new york this morning on msnbc suggested that the right wing might be more willing to accept compromise now. he's being hopeful. let's watch. >> boehner wants to compromise. that's why he gave that speech. you know, boehner is not a hard right guy. he's a incompetent mainstream conservative and i think it's going to work because the hard right a chastened in a lot of ways. >> here is a republican who may not be quite in on what happens

happening after the election, jeff duncan. when i look at the results of the election congressman duncan says, it becomes clear the house is the last line of defense for preserves freedom in this country. the people of south carolina rejected president obama's policies and i intend to fight on their behalf. in other words, it's the civil war. i'm standing up for south carolina and obama may be interested in this thing called the union. i'm for south carolina. what an amazing -- loyalty to your state as opposed to your country. didn't we get past that? >> i don't think so. and this is the issue -- >> i'm standing up for south carolina. what does that mean? >> we went through this last summer, two summers ago with the showdown over the debt ceiling. >> yeah. >> and at that point in time the president tried to reach a grand bargain. schumer is right, john boehner would have cut a deal, but he couldn't because at the end of the day had he done so, his own house republicans would have risen up in mutiny and he would

have lost the speakership. the question now is whether he has some points of leverage against the tea party wing and whether mitch mcconnell and some of the more adult members of the republicans in the senate can put pressure on the house. if they can't change that's fundamental dynamics, we're heading in the same direction. >> i think mitch mccandle is a problem because he's up for re-election and he's worried about getting a challenge from the tea party right. mr. boehner said this is your moment, mr. president, now lead. that's an acknowledgment of reality and a bit of a trying to pass the buck but it's the truth. it is going to be up to the president to go into those negotiations and to lead and to continue to listen and find areas where compromise can be built. >> but he has to lead -- >> let me help you out. >> he has to lead publicly as well because the election -- >> sell. >> he has to sell it. there aren't a lot of republicans i think at play from -- in regards to public pressure, but there are a few and the president is going to

have to work hard to find points of pressure on those people -- >> let's try -- >> they have to be willing to absorb some blows. >> remember how he ran against hillary clinton and beat her. hillary clinton had a great idea, the individual mandate for health care, self reliance -- >> actually a republican idea. >> so the president bought into an idea he had ran against. now this time everybody on the democrat side, the progressive side, said you can't go this romney direction, keep the lower rights but get rid of this some big fat deductions. now the president is being given an opening by boehner saying there is a way we can compromise. keep that 35% for the top rate but take away all the fat cat deductions. there may not be enough money there. people in that institute -- >> the tax policy center. >> is thereto enough opportunity for that kind of direction, take away a lot of deductions for state and local for example taxation which you have to pay anyway. you can have your formal 35% but you're going to pay a lot more taxes. >> i think at the end of the day, right now the white house

is going to stand by, we want the top rate to go back to 39.6%. that's their opening position. we want it to start with people at 250 and above. they're going to stand by that now. going to negotiations the principle they need to protect is the wealthiest pay more. americans don't care exactly you who you get there whether it's through the tax -- >> so there is an opening here. >> there's no question there's an opening here. >> but it's the president pushing thisened a the other guy, boehner, saying i have to root for you here. >> yeah. >> the president is willing to deal, he's willing to compromise. maybe even more so than some democrats would like. but he's also able to get the votes and bring the votes to the table. all those things are open questions on the republican side. can john boehner match him in any of those departments? >> -- he said i'm open to new revenue. he didn't say whatever -- eliminating deductions -- it's not. you have to give boehner credit. he said new revenue. >> the president goes to sleep tonight he's thinking, i won. must be tremendous relief on his

part. then he's thinking down the road, because he is thinking of the future, he's going wait a minute, i got two big risks. one i can't defend my philosophy which my base will hate and i will hate myself for it. michelle will hate me for it. and we need more money to do more things. the other fear is i'm going off the fiscal cliff, meaning i tried so hard to get my way that we screwed it up with the republicans like we did last august and nothing gets done and the economy tanks again for a second recession and i'm going down in history as a double failure. >> he can't let that happen. >> at some point he has to pull back from the paul krugmans of the world and the people on the far left, not far left but left, and say i'm president, you're a columnist. >> right. he has -- he's going to get a lot of flack from both his own left flank and the right. he has to accept that. he cannot as a responsible adult let the economy go -- let us go over the fiscal cliff. that would be terrible for the

xhi and for the people he's trying to otect in this. it would be terrible for the middle class. >> at the same time though the way he negotiates and the way he tries to reach that compromise is going to be essential. i think people on the democratic party will be willing to yield on some issues. they'll fight and scream and make good cases for their own position but at the end of the day if the compromise is reasonable and is good and he's gotten major concessions from the right, then i think -- >> i got the solution. if it comes down to the republican party led by john boehner brings this country to economic hell to protect the very rich, they're gone. so that's what he has to do is put them in the box. the only thing separating this country from economic deliverance to a better time is a bunch of republican toadies and hacks. >> he has to set the narrative -- >> let's figure tour jack lew and the rest of them figure how

to carve this so the republicans only escape is to say we're here for -- >> if he gets this right, that sets him up for suck sets in a second term. >> i'm not here to reduce the debt, i'm here to get more jobs and growth. thank you dave and dee dee. coming up, why romney lost. this is a good one. david frum, former reagan speechwrit speechwriter, says mitt romney's problem wasn't just shifting demographics or a fumbling campaign, it was his message. the message of cut benefits for the poor, the elderly, and the middle class to pay for tax cuts for the rich. until that misage changes, the republicans will not be a majority party, he says. also mitt romney wasn't this week's biggest loser. how about karl rove? i'll say it again karl rove. not only did he spend millions of other people's money with little gain, his tv performance tuesday night made him the poster child for the republican party's refusal to be part of reality people. plus, inside the two campaigns, how the obama campaign reacted to that

disastrous first debate and why as late as tuesday night the romney people thought they had this thing won. we've got reporters from both sides, a lot of tick tock and narrative tonight. and the shocker of the day, cia chief david petraeus resigns he says because of an extramarital affair. we'll try to get to the bottom of that water cooler story tonight. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork.

um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. well, a nostalgic moment for president obama now that his re-election bid has ended successfully. on wednesday he addressed campaign staffers at the chicago headquarters and thanked them for their dedication. >> what you guys have done means that the work that i'm doing is important, and i'm really proud of that. i'm really proud of all of you, and what you -- [ applause ]

the most important thing you need to know is that your journey is just beginning. j you're just starting and whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come, and that's been my source of hope. >> isn't that something? one of those rare emotional, raw emotional moments we don't get to see too often from the president. he's a very cool guy most of the time. from campaign family to actually family a lot of people noticed this moment pren the twbetween e president and his younger daughter sasha on election night. in closer scrutiny sasha appears to be reminding his dad to turn around and give some smile and wave action to the people behind

him. he's the choreographer. he quickly took her direction. we'll be right back. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. now get a $199 per month lease on a 2013 nissan altima. ♪

welcome back to "hardball." with the republican soul searching well under way and the democratic gains in the senate and in the house, the republicans are facing the reality of a country moving further and further away from the right wing ideology that energizes its base. if the republican party wants to survive, then the party that questions evolution is going to have to evolve and quickly. but will they or will they double down on the far right message pushed by many in the party and just blame romney, the guy, for losing because he was a flawed candidate? steve is a republican congressman from ohio east of cleveland and david frum is a former speechwriter for george w. bush. he's the author of a new e book called "why romney lost." that was a quick one to come out with, david. that's journalism. that's one day wonder stuff. let me start with the elected official. steve la turret, what do you make of it? i'm sure david would do it and

imd do it, too. you always come out of these diagnosis postmortems by basically having an opportunity to express your philosophy you had going in with it and say this proves me right. did this election seem to be going in the wrong direction long before tuesday night as far as you were looking at it? did you know there was a problem? >> i knew there was a problem in what the president's campaign did beautifully in the month of august as he said, 42 states really don't matter and we will concentrate in eight states, ohio being one of them, and we're going to define mitt romney before he has the chance to show up in denver on october 3rd and sort of define himself. and so for the state like ohio, there wasn't enough time between october the 3rd for the real mitt romney to get to the socially moderate fiscally conservative women because they'd already been convinced this was an evil guy from bain capital. the president's campaign was brilliant and mitt romney ran out of time. >> didn't he commit a lot of personal attacks, the $10,000 bet, the spanish people

self-deporting. you let him off the hook but he seemed like he gave a lot of clues to who he might well be. >> well, but i'll tell you, those were -- we all say things that are unfortunate from time to time but i happen to believe the guy that showed up in denver was the real mitt romney and the problem was that during that campaign season when he has to debate michele bachmann and rick perry and herman cain, he had to move so far to the right in order to get -- >> why didn't he go to the left? >> why didn't he go to the left? because he wouldn't have won the nomination. >> that's my point. your party is on the far right because that's where the votes are in the primaries. >> well -- >> isn't that the problem? >> well, i would argue that the same is true in the democratic party. the votes in primaries are on the far left and that's why you see democratic candidates having to veer to the left and thent they come back to the center. mitt romney got there too late. >> i can't argue with that. first, i want david to look at this. look is this conservative blogger. he wrote arguing it was wrong to blame the social conservatives for alienating moderates.

you may mentally decide to escape having to deal with the other implications of the election that if only the gop would abandon its social conservatism it would do better. but if you do goff find yourself a new coalition because you want have half the votes the gop has now. there's a person who has found a way to rationalize the defeat from their point of view which is go right on social conservatism. >> the floggings will continue number morale improves and the party will continue to shrink until it begins to grow. to your question at the very beginning, i actually started work on this book six weeks ago and it was not -- it's not a product of one day. it's a product of a lot of thought -- >> when did you see the problem emerge then? >> well, let's just start with this fact. in the past six elections the republican party has won a majority of the votes in the

presidency just one time, 2004. six elections, five of six, less than half the vote. in the previous six presidential elections going back to 1968 republicans won five times out of six, even if you include their defeats, they averaged 52.5% of the vote. one six cycle period, 52.5% and the other never a majority. this is not about mitt romney. it's not about chris christie it's not about the storm, it's about a deep ob sa lessance of what the party was doing. the core problem is this. like all successful institutions, general motors after the 1960s, the u.s. army after world war ii, the republican party has been slow to change to a new reality because what it used to do used to work so well and it's so difficult to admit it doesn't work anymore and hasn't been working for a long time. >> is it just because there aren't the percentage of white people in the population is diminishing? >> no, it is not about that.

it's not about the latino vote only. it's about the american middle class. it's that the republican party developed in the 1970s a series of very powerful answers to the problems of low productivity and high inflation and the soviet challenge, and now in the 21st century in all of those problems have been solved and we have new problems of inequality, high health care cost and the chinese challenge, they are offering still the same ideas that worked against completely different problems. it's like giving antibiotics to somebody who is suffering from mental depression. >> i was watching this whole thing that's going to go on, congress marn, congratulations on getting re-elected. hannitys a one view, which is get with this immigration situation and give beth a path and then lim baugh says are we going to become a lefty and hand out condoms? he's such a ridiculous person in this regard. your view of the party, is there one thing they could do that would make your party more acceptable to the middle? >> absolutely. and that is we can't abandon the

entire new england states and say we're not going to elect republicans and the way you do that is our message on finances is sound. it's when we get a guy in indiana and a guy in missouri saying -- being pregnant after a rape is a gift from god. well, that scares some people and some people in my party need to figure that out. >> okay. well said. thank you very much, david frum, good luck with the ebook and congressman, gooed to meet you on this show. up next, david petraeus today resigned over what he described as an extramarital affair. we'll get the latest when we return. this is "hardball," the place for politics. i'm only in my 60's...

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what do you make of this? it didn't seem -- what's the right word? it didn't seem to be freighted right. he's quitting over an extramarital affair but why is he telling us about this? it doesn't seem like the normal washington scandal developing here. what's going on? >> well, the timing, we may have some new indications about the timing based on the information 50i78 about to say. this is what we know so the far and what we've been able to confirm and is reportable. of course, the cia director today resigned, and he cited that extramarital affair. also we have learned from law enforcement sources and law enforcement officials that the fbi is now investigating, and this is an ongoing investigation into paula broadwell. she is someone who has had close access to general petraeus. she was his by fer and wrote a book on general petraeus called "all in." she's spent extensive time with him in afghanistan, has made numerous television appearances talking about general traits. says she's gone running with him. the fbi investigation is seeing

whether she had improper access to the general -- to general petraeus's e-mails and may have had access to his -- may have accidentally or deliberately had access to classified information, and so we know this investigation is taking place and that it's identified paula broadwell, someone who has been close to david petraeus, which many people are saying could be an indication of the timing of all of this. >> okay. david ignatius, you're excellent at covering all this spy agencies. what's going on? >> well, i think richard mentioned the fbi investigation of paula broadwell. paula broadwell is general petraeus' biographer and somebody who has been close to him. to speak for a moment about the cia, general petraeus when he came to the cia about 15 months ago appointed as his deputy the

then acting director michael morell, who is a career agency analyst. michael morell has stepped in as acting director again. i think that's from the standpoint of the cia and the stability of u.s. intelligence efforts the most positive thing you could say. morell is a career guy. he's trusted by the white house. he was trusted by petraeus, and so you have a smoother transition than you sometimes do in these situations. >> let me get back to richard engel about this. you know, you know these guys. you know as a military guy covering our fights overseas, the combat operations in iraq especially, this man was almost at the general mcarthur level just a few years ago. people were talking about him being the republican candidate for the presidency in the current election cycle. this is a big fall. this is a big fall down from where he was in our national

estima estimate. >> it's almost the fall of an american hero. this last decade didn't create very many heros in the public imagination. there were many heroes who were recognized by their brothers in arms, but i think there's only been really two so far, and both of them have been brought down in scandal. one, general petraeus today and the other general mcchrystal who was fired unceremoniously after that article in "rolling stone." they were the two names that americans could recognize. general mack crystal for his role in black ops and general petraeus who could perhaps walk into a football stadium and get a standing occasion. >> what a difference a day made. thank you, david and richard. sthau so much, gentlemen. up next, karl rove is pedaling a new line about why president obama won re-election. rove claims the president's campaign, loved the way he stole

this phrase, suppress the vote to win. when is this guy going to deal with reality and stop talking. suppress the vote in i think that was their number. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

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i'm sue herera with your cnbc market wrap. stocks are up finally following the worst two-day slide in a year. the dow only gained 4 points however. the s&p 500 added 2. and the nasdaq was up 9 points. apple shares making a bit of a comeback after falling earlier in the week. shares are up nearly 2%. jcpenney shares, however, fell 4%. that after reporting a larger than expected loss of $203 million in the third quarter. and that's it from cnbc. we are first in business worldwide, and now back to chris and "hardball."

the people who gave him the money, i think it was the koch brothers, they gave him $400 million and said, tubby, go get us a president. we got stuff we want to ramrod through. we want to turn this america -- we want america back. here, what's it going to take to get america back, karl? $40 billion, bring back a real america, will you? so a lot of that money is leftov leftover. i tell you, the koch brothers, don't be surprised if you read karl rove was beaten up by the ko ch brothers. >> of all the postmortems on the election, the complete flop of karl rove and his super pacs is the most ib credible. now that he's come to grips with the fact president obama did win election again, he has a new theory of why it happened. this is rove's theory on why president obama was re-elected.

let's listen. >> now with the state of ohio -- >> by suppressing the vote. by making -- by saying to people, you may not like who i am and you know you can't bring yourself to vote for me, i'm going to paint this other guy as simply a rich guy who only cares about himself. >> you know what? you know, reminds me of a criminal kril when the guy is caught ret handed stealing the car, joe told me to take it. complete knob sense. karl rove september up the spin. fox host megan kelly tried to ring him back to reality. she's been pretty good dealing with this guy. let's listen. >> president obama has been re-elected with the -- becoming the first president in history to win a second term with a smaller percentage of the vote than he did -- >> you keep saying that but he won. and that's what the republicans care about, the democrats care about. >> you know what? it's like sober up. karl rove, get your head together. michael steele who is chair of the republican national committee and i have to say a better one than reince priebus, he's an msnbc political analyst

and willie brown was mayor of san francisco. i have to say one thing about california, mayor, you know, i thought this race -- i'm going to say -- it was like the west greenwich village got the vote for figure. same-sex marriage, marijuana, raise taxes to pay for education. this is the most liberal electorate i have seen out there since lbj's day. your thoughts quickly on what happened tuesday. >> well, i think that what happened tuesday is the republican party literally gave it away. they have within obviously succumbing to whatever was required from the tea party for so long that they have gotten out of step with who the people are, what the people care about, and why the people would be motivated to vote. they didn't do a job of selling the republican party with anything anybody could support. >> okay. what's the suppression thing? we all know usually historically suppression means usually directed at the minority vote. we will make it difficult for you to vote. we will -- what do we call it? i can't remember the old terms.

you had to pay to vote. >> pay to vote. >> poll tax. and what they call literacy test, some question in greek. some incredibly complicated thing. all to screw the black voter. now he's using it in what context. translate what he's talking about. >> i don't know. i think megan was obviously a little bit incredulous, too. >> i think she's a lawyer. >> -- suppress the vote, you have to keep in mind the president got 8 million votes less than the last time. did he suppress his own vote? it doesn't make a lot of sense. there's a lot of grasping at straws in the face of what was a real, you know, smackdown by the obama team on tuesday night. and i think that instead of trying to analyze this thing so you people better about what happened, you understand and appreciate that the country has changed. you got your clock cleaned because you were out of step with where the country is, and now you need to regroup and refocus on a message as we did in 2010 and in 2009 to elect chris christie out in new jersey

and a bob mcdonald in virginia, a state we lost again, how we go forward and i think the mayor is exactly right. laying out a comprehensive, cogent message about our economy, our future, and our families, and not get into the weeds on things that people aren't focused on. >> it seems, mr. mayor, that the republicans built their whole strategy this time about what worked in 2010. a small electorate, more white electorate, older electorate, the kinds of people who vote dutifully all the time and then they faced a democratic party which was armed with a larger electorate of people who voted this time more for the president, younger people, minorities, women winning with 53%. it seems like their whole model was based on a very low turnout of voters. >> that is exactly how, in fact, they lost. but let me also tell you, chris, you have got to look at how the obama team, which clearly was a superior operation when it comes to politics, they took the model that's been used in cities all

around the country, and that is go to people w40 have not voted before. go to people who are not campaigned to before and see if you can't convince them to become a party of the body politic. they're never going to be polled by anybody. if you can put them, you will have a hidden treasure of people who want to vote. and that's what happened this time. and the republicans suppressing the vote. that business that you described about the poll tax and all the other kinds of means by which you suppress poll, that happened in 40 or 50 states and it was all republicans and republican control. that made democrats really angry and in particular it made african-american democrats in cleveland and in cincinnati and in columbus and in akron and toledo really mad, and that anger caused them to stand in line for hours to be able to cast their vote. >> mr. mayor, i heard it said

with a little fine tuning, not only did it make them angry, they weren't that hot on the president to begin with. they liked him they wouldn't feverishly for him until they saw they were being kept out for voting. talk about it. >> you are a republican, michael. tell me about this. i heard exactly what the mayor said. the strategy was go out and find people that haven't been talked to, puerto ricans, get them activated. skip the guy with the gun and go with the person you think is going to be a democrat. get them activated, bring them into system and get them to vote. that's a positive, aggressive system. >> actually, you set the question up and i just want to clarify the record. what you described we did in reverse. we actually did that. that's how we were so successful in 2010. that's how we expanded the base and the reach of the party. >> how did you go it? >> we built a network of coal lathss around the country. we were -- >> you were with the evangelicals and the gun people -- >> we got everybody under the same tent for the first time in a long time. we came out in 2006 and 2008 --

>> did you see the demographic problem coming? >> i have been seeing it since the year 2000. the shift in maryland and our state, watching charles county and st. mary's county in the southern part become more minority in majority and so -- >> because they brought so many people in for agriculture and other -- >> it's what the mayor and you are talking about only in reverr rever reverse. we need to go back out -- >> guys together know a lot. thank you, mr. mayor. i am impressed by california. once again either showing the way or doing something completely new like voting to raise taxes for any reason, even education, and they did it. you guys -- i never thought jerry could do it again. >> they're amazing out there. >> thank you, mr. mayor. thank you, michael steele. you handled this already, didn't you? >> it was pretty good. >> you voted for the other guy, right? >> no. i voted for mitt romney. thank you very much. >> i thought you might. up next, inside -- it's going to

be great. junkies stay with us. we have the greatest inside stories coming up from our embeds of what actually happened to romney the last couple months, what happened to the obama camp, inside. i wish we had two hours for this. we have a few minutes. the fact the rom people thought they had won up through tuesday evening. how it all went to the end. great stuff coming up. that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

we're coming back with the inside story of both campaigns

in the final days before the election this week. i cannot wait to hear it myself. back after this. so you say men are superior drivers?

yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good hands? we're back. qulers of planning, months of rallies and days of waiting came to an end tuesday when polls closed nationwide and results starting pouring in. while both campaigns felt confident in their chances of victory, in the end mitt romney was only able to nab one swing state, north carolina, away from the president. no one can tell the story better than the men and women who lived every day of the 2012 -- life of 2012 on the campaign trail itself. we've got two of these political reporters with me tonight. matt adviser of the boston globe and ashley parker of the "new

york times." ashley, thank you so much. you were right in there. give me the tick tock. tell me the mood tuesday night because it seemed to me there was some amazing time before -- between when we called it here at nbc around between when we c here on msnbc, around 11:20 and when the loser came out and talked, mitt romney. >> sure. it came from extreme confidence to sort of extreme shell shocked at the very end when he came out to speak. in between, there was sort of this weird moment of what's going to happen? all of these aides have been told to show up with packed bags and ready to go in case there was going to be a recount. they said, take your bags, bring them outside of the garden. we're taking them to the airport and you guys are going to be on the first flights out to virginia and ohio and obviously that was called off. >> and then there was a point when the presidential candidate mitt romney said it's gone? >> yeah. so he was not watching tv, actually. he was in a room with his family, his five sons, the daughter-in-laws and he was

getting updates from his campaign manager, matt rhodes. these were not looking good and they were looking to see what the options were and finally he realized -- he hadn't actually even written a concession speech and it was over. >> let's talk about the obama campaign in ohio state. what happened out there? >> i went to ohio state on halloween night. it was a night when college students should probably be doing anything else but voting but the obama campaign had these bus and they were bussing people out in franklin county to go vote early. it was a lively scene, be loud music. after they voted, the obama campaign had four or five people whacking down each row and gathering data on each student who had voted, asking their names, if they can volunteer on election day and gathering information. so the next morning i sat down with the rahm campaign, people on the ground in ohio and asked them, are you guys doing

anything similar, is there anything to replicate that? and they said the juice on that is not worth the squeeze. >> i was skeptical because i saw the president go from college campus to college campus. i thought he ought to be back at his office. like he did with the storm. >> you had also a new group of college students who were not the college students that were excited four years ago. >> yeah. >> but they were different college kids. >> 2% or 1% share increase in their share of the vote. i, like everybody on the planet, but perhaps me more emotionally, reacted more to the debate who thought the president went out there and showed that he can go to sleep in primetime. what did come out of that or what didn't? why didn't they stay on that line and say we're going to stay that way for the next three weeks instead they talked about benghazi and all of that other

stuff. that's just my question. >> well, they actually tried to do that. they saw how well governor romney did and bipartisanship and they immediately cut it off. the romney campaign have said that he didn't come off well, it wasn't compelling. but that debate footage gave him a chance to get it out. he was going to iowa where it's all started for president obama four years ago and started about president obama, talking about bipartisanship, talking about reaching across the aisle and, yeah, there was distractions, the huge storm that threw them off the game and they couldn't stick to that just one message. >> i'm from philly and i wonder when he got 33,000 people in bucks county, maybe he knows something that we don't know. >> and the last three weeks of the campaign trail felt like something was happening and the crowds were bigged and much more

enthusiastic than they had ever been before. >> what did you say it meant? >> that we don't know how broad base that is. >> big crowds in the suburban areas like people like romney in terms of background and then it wasn't translating into the country. >> right. it was a different feel. romney crowds felt like they were changing things. obama crowds were nervous. they didn't quite know how it was going to turn out. >> i went up to the thing right before the election. it's hard to believe that it was this week. monday night in pennsylvania, be they play the big five games, and there is bill clinton with a crowd of people your age. they were all like in their early to late 20s, packed, like 20,000 students. i haven't seen that enthusiasm. was that going across the country? ashley? >> yes. after the debate romney's crowds were not all huge but he went to

denver which is where musician actually performed and it felt like people came out to see a rock star there. huge crowds, packed. in pennsylvania, one of the most striking things was on tuesday when governor romney touched down in pittsburgh, there was a huge crowd. it lined up upper deck of a parking garage overlooking where he landed and they were all just waiting for him and cheering for him. he was so touched. had he finally found the love that he had been searching for the whole campaign. >> what an amazing thing this election has been. what an amazing thing. thank you, matt, ashley. >> thank you. when we return, let me finish with this still wonder -- and i just said it again -- of this election. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. nk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever.

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so let me finish tonight with this. it stunned me, too, as i sat there tuesday night. i couldn't believe what i was watching so i sympathies with mitt romney on this one. same sex marriage, legalizing marijuana, is this kournt and now we've done it again giving this president double majority votes, something only fdr has gotten among democrats going all the way back to the civil war. so i'm still stunned. i will